Q Thank you very much, Mr. President, for joining our viewers.
Mr. President, do you understand and accept the reasons and
explanations that two Baltic presidents are not attending the
celebrations in Moscow, 9th May?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, absolutely. First of all, I can understand
the decision by your President and the President of Lithuania, as well
as the President of Latvia. These are difficult decisions because --
and they reflect the difficult times. And I honor those decisions.
But I understand.

There's a lot of Americans who came -- whose families were in the
Baltics. And this is a bittersweet moment for them when you think
about it. On the one hand, our country helped defeat fascism, and upon
the defeat of fascism, they saw their homelands be taken over by a
repressive ideology. And so I fully understand, and matter of fact,
understood it to the point where I brought it up to President Putin
when I saw him in Slovakia, and just said, you got to understand this
is going to create some sensitivities among our friends, among
America's friends -- Estonia and Lithuania and Latvia.

Q It's quite strange situation now. The war is over for 60
years, and it's not still over. Whose fault is it --

THE PRESIDENT: No, I appreciate that. Look, it's -- I think it's
time to move beyond fault and focus on the future. Now, that's easy
for me to say because I didn't have any family members that were
repressed or families divided. I didn't have to live under the yoke of
communism. But I do believe that time will help heal the wounds.

And, listen, the Baltics are doing great. Their economies are
growing. They're getting stronger. Freedom is working. People are
able to express themselves in the public square. Independent media can
come and interview the President in the White House. I mean, it is a
-- these are exciting times. But I readily understand why it takes
time to heal the wounds of the past.

Q Democracy and the human rights situation in Russia is quite
worrying. Are you going to discuss this item during your visit to
Moscow?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, of course. I have -- first of all, I've got a
relationship with President Putin that enables me to be able to have a
frank discussion. He gave an interesting speech the other day -- the
press tend to focus on the comment about the Soviet times, and of
course, that obviously riled emotions in the Baltics. I understand
that. But he also went on to talk about democracy. I thought it was
interesting that he spent a lot of time on his big speech to the nation
on democracy. I believe Russia's interests lie to her west. I believe
that Russia, by embracing the values that we share, will be able to
deal with the many problems that she has. Russia has got enormous
problems.

And so, yes, of course, I'll talk to President Putin about that.
And I will do so in a cooperative way, in a cooperative spirit. This
is not an antagonistic relationship. And I don't think you want the
relationship to be antagonistic. After all, Russia is your neighbor.
I think you would want your friend, the United States, to be in a
position where I can go in and have a constructive, direct dialogue.
And I think one people -- one thing people have learned about me is I'm
a pretty direct person; I say what's on my mind -- I try to do so
diplomatically. But, yes, I will. And I do so for the interests of
the United States, and for our friends, and for the world.

Q Mr. President, I can't let you go from here without a question
of terrorism.

THE PRESIDENT: Sure.

Q Latest surveys show that the numbers of terrorism are
increasing, not decreasing.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Why is that?

THE PRESIDENT: Well --

Q You have made a lot of efforts.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's why. If we weren't trying to find the
enemy and bring him to justice, the world would look relatively
peaceful. But we're on the offense. And so when you engage the enemy,
when you try to bring them to justice, they don't like to be brought to
justice.

I've always told the American people here, it's best to find them
where they try to hide so that we don't have to deal with them here at
home. And so part of the reasons why activity is up is because we're
chasing them down. As a matter of fact, today, a big news report came
out that I would say one of the top al Qaeda leaders, a person very
close to Osama bin Laden, was brought to justice in Pakistan by the Pak
government, with our help -- but, nevertheless, the Pak government did
the hard work

-- Abu Faraj Al-Libbi. That's a very important part of defeating
the al Qaeda.

But, no, we'll stay on the offense. And we'll be relentless and
tireless in doing so. The best way to defeat terrorism in the long
run, though, is by spreading freedom, is by giving people a chance to
live in a free society.

Q How long it takes to curb, finally?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's a good question. However long -- it
takes as long as necessary. I just don't know. I don't have a -- I
can't give you a timetable. But whatever it takes, so long as I'm the
President and there's a threat to the United States of America and to
our people -- you see, a lot of people in Europe, for them, September
the 11th was a date, a passing moment. No question they expressed deep
sympathy, for which the United States is grateful. But for us, it was
a change of attitude. It was a change of foreign policy. And I told
the people when I ran for office the second time, I said, if you put me
in office every day I'm in office, I'll be relentless in chasing down
the enemy. And so -- for however long it takes.

It takes a while for freedom to take hold. I know that. Look at
Iraq. Iraq is going from a tyranny to a free society. And it's not
easy. But they're getting there. This country is beginning to -- it's
getting on its feet. The security forces are beginning to work
better. The terrorists are more desperate. But that free society will
be an important part of sending a message to others. And free
societies are peaceful societies. And that's the great example of
Estonia, for which the United States is grateful, and we're proud to
call you friend.